I don’t know what I expected to hear—I was pretty tired after a long road trip in a monster electric car. But when the Chevrolet engineer said “1,064 horsepower,” the words “oh my god” came out of my mouth. I really try not to give that kind of response, but 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 make sure of that.
Four-digit horsepower figures are no longer the preserve of draft-only tuners; there are a handful of engines and electric motor arrays that are guaranteed to produce more than a thousand horsepower, but they mostly do so in vehicles that weigh as much as a full-size pickup truck or more. The new ZR1 weighs 3,670 pounds in coupe form and 3,758 pounds in convertible form, within 100 pounds of Porsche 911 Turbo SThis extremely powerful engine system will be housed in a relatively lightweight car, built by some of the best chassis engineers on the planet.
The ZR1’s power numbers are the headline numbers, but things get wilder when you dig into the rest of the specs. The 5.5-liter twin-turbo LT7 V8 will also deliver 828 pound-feet of torque, and it’s mated to a beefed-up eight-speed dual-clutch automatic that sends power to the rear wheels. That means it’s good for 394 horsepower and 368 lb-ft more. Z06 naturally aspiratedand 409 horsepower and 233 lb-ft more E-Ray hybrid. It can run the quarter mile in under 10 seconds and reach a top speed of 215 mph. Downforce at that top speed is 1,200 pounds.
Buyers who opt for the ZTK track package will get the massive woven carbon fiber wing you see on the yellow car above, along with carbon fender flares, Gurney lip, and underbody braces. The Magnetic Ride springs are stiffer with the ZTK package, and instead of the standard Pilot Sport 4S tires, you get Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires, pictured below with a scale gauge because they’re pretty big, measuring 275/30ZR20 up front and 345/25ZR21 out back. You can get the aero bits on a standard ZR1, but don’t buy them.
Carbon ceramic brakes feature 15.7-inch rotors with six-piston calipers up front and 15.4-inch discs with four-piston calipers in the rear. Chevy says the ZR1 will accelerate from 80 mph to 200 mph and back to 80 mph in 24.5 seconds, 22 percent quicker than the C7 ZR1. Wheels are available in aluminum, painted Edge Blue to match the engine cover, or carbon fiber, which goes with all the carbon fiber. To keep things cool, there are large carbon air intakes on the hood and rear fenders, and on the coupe on the tailgate. The coupe also gets a gorgeous split-window engine cover, a design feature last seen on the C2.
As Tadge Juechter said when I walked around the ZR1 trim, we’re looking at it now because the camouflage has to be removed for further testing. Expect to hear more hard numbers from the ZR1 camp in the coming months, as the C8 ZR1 nears its on-sale date sometime in 2025. Before you ask, no, we don’t know how much it will cost yet.
Here are my pictures. PURPLE Convertible!
